


Flea Market Finds

by TrinityEverett



Category: Castle
Genre: F/M, season 7 fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:09:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23719489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrinityEverett/pseuds/TrinityEverett
Summary: While walking the flea market one day, Beckett has a chance to take on a new project: redecorating. Season 7 Fic, Caskett.
Relationships: Kate Beckett/Richard Castle
Kudos: 3





	Flea Market Finds

**Flea Market Finds**

**A Season 7 Ficlet**

* * *

"What do you think about that?"

"Hmm?" Beckett asks, never lifting her eyes from a display of antique watches. Her dad would love one and his birthday is coming up, so she might just have to spring for it this time.

"Kate," her husband prompts. She looks up, blinking in his direction.

"Sorry, I was just looking at that one for Dad." She points, dropping her cheek to Castle's shoulder. "I'm thinking about getting it for his birthday."

Rick smiles. "He'll love that."

"Kay," she agrees, pulling out her wallet and gesturing to the vendor. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

Castle takes the box from her once she pays, tucking it into the bag with the rest of their purchases so far. "Oh, I just, what do you think?" he points to a long console table underneath the tent on the other side of the aisle.

She tilts her head. "It's nice. For the loft?"

He shakes his head. "I was thinking the Hamptons house in the foyer. The table that's in there just doesn't fit at all, don't you think?"

Kate blinks.

"I," she stumbles. "Really?"

"You don't want to?" he asks, brow furrowing.

"No, I do. I think it would look nice." She smiles, reaching out to take his arm. "I was just surprised to hear you talking about redecorating."

After the Linus debacle and the reaction she'd received from her then-fiancé, making changes to additional spaces that Castle has long considered his and his alone hasn't been high on her list of priorities. After all, the last thing she needs is for him to end up in another three-day spiral about "his territory" or whatever the phrasing might be. In the end, most of the things she loves from her own place have found homes in the loft without any protest or issues, so she hasn't pressed the issue.

But maybe she should work harder to show him she wants to make all the spaces they share hers as well.

Her husband slips his hand over hers, squeezing her fingers. There's an apology she doesn't quite expect in his eyes and she bumps him with her shoulder, wanting to see it disappear.

"Come on, Castle," she murmurs, brushing her lips over his cheek. "Let's check it out. See if it looks as good up close as it does from here."

Once they're close, she can see that the table is in rougher shape than Castle was probably hoping, but her mind whirs with possibilities. They can fix it up, refinish and repaint it, and it'll look better than new.

"Well, that's not great…" Castle starts.

She shakes her head. "No, no it's better than that." She grins up at him. "It's a project."

"A project," he repeats, dragging out the word.

Kate smiles, rubbing a hand down his arm. "Yeah. We sand it down and fix the knicks and dents and then repaint it the way we want to. It's work, I know, but it's a project we can do."

She slips her hand into his, lacing their fingers. "What do you think? An opportunity to show me how good you are with your hands?"

Rick wiggles his eyebrows. "Don't I do that already?"

"Another chance, then," she says, lifting her chin in suggestion. Her eyebrow lifts.

"Are you sure you want to do that? We can always go to a furniture store and pick out something that's new."

"I'm sure. Not that store-bought isn't nice – and I'm sure you've got just the guy to find something great – but it'll be fun to do something that makes it completely ours and isn't just something we had delivered." She brushes her thumb over his. "Okay?"

After a moment of searching her face, Rick nods. "Okay."

Lifting onto her toes, Kate dusts a kiss to his mouth. "Thank you. When we're done with it, it'll look better than anything we could've bought in some boutique. Trust me."

Although Rick's prepared to pay the asking price for the table, she manages to haggle with the vendor to bring the price down a bit. The guy wants it gone badly enough to agree but makes sure she knows they're on the hook for taking it home – delivery is not an option. Thankfully, she has a husband who has a "guy" for everything, including bringing a truck to them to load the table and drive it to their house in the Hamptons.

Castle's "guy" also doesn't mind waiting for them to finish walking the flea market, allowing them the opportunity to pick up a few more trinkets to sprinkle around the house and a chair she falls in love with for the balcony outside of their bedroom. Her final purchase – a rugged looking bronze elephant – goes into the bag to take back to the loft after their vacation is over.

"Ready?" Rick asks once their things are loaded onto the truck.

"Yeah." She loops an arm around his waist, leaning into him as they watch the driver pull away from the curb. "We should stop by a hardware store and grab supplies on the way to the house. That way we can get started tonight or tomorrow."

"Tonight?" he asks, raising an eyebrow. He slips his arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer. "Wouldn't you rather do something _else_ tonight?"

Kate twists, pressing a kiss to his neck. "I have all the confidence in the world that you'll have the stamina for all the activities we have in mind, baby." She nuzzles him quickly, grins at the shiver that rolls down his spine. "I'll even treat you to some food on the way home to help keep your strength up."

Castle's hand flexes against her bicep, holding her tightly enough to tell her she has him. "We'll shop fast; let's go."

She grins, allowing him to tug her toward their car without another word.

A few days later they stand together in the foyer of the Hamptons house, admiring their handiwork. The table had needed a little more TLC than she'd originally thought, but they'd made it through without too much incident (she takes full responsibility for the hand prints they haven't quite managed to sand out of the finish, but Castle had just looked so _good_ with the tool belt he'd insisted upon buying slung low on his hips).

"I know I was skeptical at first," Rick starts, getting her attention. She turns to face him, sipping from the wine they'd poured in celebration. "But this was fun. I'm glad we did it."

"Me too. And may I just say, you make an incredibly handsome handyman." She taps his chest.

He preens. "You may. In fact, please tell me more. And feel free to pick more projects to allow me to showcase said rugged handsomeness."

She grins, taking a step closer. "Oh, I'm already thinking. I'm also thinking that you would look _fantastic_ on the new sheets I put on the bed while you were working on your book earlier." She lifts onto her toes, kisses his mouth.

"New sheets, huh? What else is new around here?"

Her lips curve against his. "Mhmm," she pulls away, plucking at his sweater. "You'll just have to get the bottle of wine and join me in our bedroom to find out."

* * *

_Prompted by Anon: "Your post tags about redecorating, can you fic that please, pretty please"_

_Hope you liked this, Anon! I'm sorry (as always) about how long it took for me to write it for you. (And I'm sorry still that I can't find the post I made the tags on to link everyone!)_

_Thank you all for reading!_


End file.
